Play Your Role
by TiA995
Summary: The masks we wear and the roles we play in life change, especially when it comes to someone as complicated as Adrian Ivashkov. Follow the events of four Halloweens where Adrian grows from a lonely boy in a home that lacks warmth and love, to a confused teenager finding his way to new experiences, a conflicted, party-boy in college and a fulfilled man with a family of his own.


**Hey guys!**

 **So, l** **ast year I got to participate in the VA10thanniversaryproject with my Halloween and Christmas pieces! It was my first participation in a writing project on FF and it was wonderful! However, I never got around to posting my pieces on my profile so I thought... LET'S DO IT THIS YEAR! I'm a little late since Halloween is a bit behind us now, but after re-reading this piece I'd realized I had to update it a little! I was surprised to see how my writing style has changed over the course of just one year and how much I've learned in the meantime! And I have a lot of wonderful people to thank for that!**

 **Anyhow, to those of you who've read this piece when it was first written: I hope you enjoy this updated version! To those who are new to it: I hope you have a blast reading this!**

 **Special thanks to Meg (megamorr on FF) for proofreading this and giving me her precious feedbacks and suggestions!**

* * *

 **Age 5, The Royal Court**

Fighting - that was when mom cried a lot and dad's voice became really weird. Voices were like the weather, but they could change seasons a few times a day. Dad's voice was always cold. I often wondered if it would be different if he wore a scarf more often. Mom's voice must have been so warm and sweet because she always drank her tea with honey.

They were fighting again. I could hear it because of the little crack left between the door of my room and its frame. They fought a lot. Sometimes they'd yell, sometimes they'd do it really quietly. Mom always made me pinky promise I'd never tell my friends about their fights. I once explained to her that I had no friends to tell. She cried then too.

She cried a lot and I could never understand why. She had so many pretty dresses and shoes, dad had said so many times and that was supposed to make women happy, right? And she was an adult which meant she could eat as much chocolate as she wanted to and chocolate always made _me_ happy.

I wiggled up to the window frame and leaned on it, watching the glass fog as I breathed out. I glanced over my shoulder, just to make sure no one was there before I formed an O with my mouth and blew on the window as long as I could. I quickly ran my finger through the pale circle before it could disappear, drawing a stickman. I grinned at his smiley face until he faded away. I folded my arms and placed my chin on them, looking outside.

It was a cold October night, but that didn't stop the people from the houses around us from going outside. They were smiling and holding their children's hands as they hopped from one door to another, dressed funny and asking for candy. I too was dressed funny, but mom said I looked like a little angel when she helped me pull my clothes on. I didn't know if she said that just because I had a pair of fluffy, white wings stuck on my back or because she was trying to convince me that I looked good in my costume.

I shifted uncomfortably since my outfit was very itchy and sighed before I got down from the window, strolling over to the door. I popped my head out and listened. Dad was saying some bad things, things that made mom cry even harder. He must have been confused because he said that mom was stupid. But she was the smartest person I knew. Maybe that meant that I was stupid too. _Money_. He really liked that word, he said it all the time. Mom didn't like it. She always got super mad when he said it, just like that time I learned a naughty word in kindergarten and got sent to my room for using it during lunch.

There was a ring on the front door. Everything quieted down for a few long moments and I held my breath in anticipation. When I heard voices again followed by feet shuffling, I ran back to my bed and sat on it, waiting. The footsteps became louder and soon the door was being pushed open.

"There you are", a warm and familiar voice spilled into my dark room along with the light from the hallway, "I thought you were going to make me wait all day for you."

I stayed silent, looking up at the person standing at the threshold and the dazzling crown on top of her head. I didn't dare move until she kneeled and motioned me to come to her. I ran into her embrace and curled my hands around her neck as I breathed in her perfume. She always smelled nice, my aunt Tati. She was the queen. I was supposed to bow when I saw her or at least that was what my dad always told me. I never did that though, not because I wanted to disobey him, but because aunt Tati never allowed me to. She always saved that one little hug just for me and, honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. That was what made me feel special, it was the only thing that made me feel special.

As I leaned away she pinched my cheek and adjusted the wings that had tipped to the side when she hugged me. She smiled and asked: "And why is my favorite little nephew sitting all alone, in the dark, on Halloween?"

"I'm not allowed to go outside by myself", I whispered like I was sharing some big secret with her.

"Then it's a good thing I'm here", she chuckled, standing up and offering me her hand, "Come on Adrian, let's go show you off."

I took her hand, letting her lead me out of the room and down the stairs. My mom and dad were in the foyer. _Foyer was such a funny word_. Mom was smiling, her expression making it seem like she was the happiest person in the world. Maybe dad promised to get her more dresses. But why did her eyes look so sad then? I wonder why she was like this. How can you be happy and sad at the same time? Dad was as serious as always, his tone the same as the one he used when I did something bad as he said: "You don't have to waste your time taking him out, we were just about to-."

"Please spare me", aunt Tati cut in, smoothing her long, shimmery dress before a man in black stepped out of the corner and lifted a rich, fur coat for her, "I'm not someone you can fool. Deal with... whatever this is."

Without another word to them she walked out while mom took a few steps towards me. She brushed my hair with her fingers gently and whispered: "Have fun my sweet."

She leaned down and I quickly kissed her cheek before I rushed after Tati. Everyone bowed and stepped back to let us through as we made our way down the street. Tati nodded to them politely, but didn't really pay attention to anything else, focusing on me instead. She glanced down and prompted: "Where to, Angel?"

I shrugged, for some reason making her laugh before she added: "We are going to have to work on your attitude. You need to know what you want and ask for it."

"Even from a queen?"

"Even from a queen", she confirmed, giving me a funny wink that made me chuckle, "Besides, tonight I'm not a queen so I believe that doesn't really matter."

"You can chose when you are a queen and when you are not?"

"Absolutely", she chuckled softly and then gave me a more serious look, "So, Adrian, think of what you want and ask for it."

 **Age 15, Alder Academy**

"I want that one", I announced, pointing towards the knee length black coat hanging behind the salesman.

"Good choice Lord Ivashkov, good choice indeed", he confirmed as dollar bills practically popped out of his eyes the minute he registered I was asking for what was probably the most expensive piece of clothing in the store.

"Man, are you sure your folks won't mind all of this?", Brent asked, flipping a hat that he was holding in order to pull it onto his head.

"Trust me when I tell you this, they are too busy to notice or care that I'm racking a bill on their credit card", I responded, leaning against one of the clothes racks as I waited for the cashier to pack all of the stuff up.

"Hey Badica, are you sure those chicks are coming?", Wesley asked Brent, strolling out of the changing room dressed in a white suit.

"Pretty sure. I guess it sometimes pays to have an older sister. She promised at least three of her friends will come."

"Problem Ivashkov?", Wesley asked when he noticed I was barely sustaining a laugh.

"You dressing as a pimp Drozdov?", I challenged, crossing my arms on my chest.

"No. I'll give you a hint though: when one of those girls goes up to my room and starts screaming _Oh, God_ she won't be wrong."

Brent and I burst into laughter as Lars joined us, patting Wesley on the shoulder and mumbling: "You, my friend, are an idiot."

"I'm just saying, trick or fucking treat, I'm getting laid tonight", Wesley persisted with a smug look as I turned to hand the cashier my mom's credit card.

"Let's get out of here before he poops out more of his terrible one-liners", Lars commented, grabbing the bags from me.

I shook my head and snickered into my chin as we strolled out of the store and headed towards the taxi that was waiting for us. They joked around while I gave the driver instructions, hoping we wouldn't get caught sneaking back onto the school ground. I'd already done enough crap this year to get as close to being expelled as possible. Luckily, I was still my aunt's favorite. I'd love to see the poor bastard who tried to kick me out and face her wrath for it.

Speaking of my aunt, I couldn't help but to smile as the memory of the night when she took me trick-or-treating crossed my mind. It was the first real Halloween I had. Probably the last one too. At Alder, Halloween was pretty much all about nasty tricks and stunts when we were younger and parties we snuck into or threw ourselves as we got older. Drozdov, Zeklos and Badica were my constant companions throughout all of it. No cute costumes, no candy, no childish innocence.

One would think I would've gotten used to it by now, but I felt nervous about tonight for some reason. Sure, the thrill of sneaking in alcohol and avoiding the guards was something that used to make my body ripple with adrenaline, but doing the same thing over and over tended to lose its _charm_ eventually. Also, as our parties grew, having a lot of girls in our dorm became too expected and, quite frankly, boring. However, this time some seniors were joining the celebration and they weren't just any seniors. These chicks were, according to Brent, beyond hot and the furthest away from the shy girls from our class. I had no idea why they agreed to come, but I had a feeling they were going to be bored out of their minds. Especially now that Wesley kept bragging about the _moves_ he was planning to put on them.

The more the party approached the more unexplainably nervous I felt. Finally, when I walked into Brent's room, I felt like I might puke when I was met by an uncountable number of people who, beyond all reason and logic, managed to cram themselves into the tiny space available. Brent patted me on the shoulder and yelled something I couldn't even begin to make out from all the noise. I had no idea who he bribed to let us throw this party, but as he stirred me towards the balcony I pushed myself to embrace the possibility of actually having fun tonight. As we tumbled out I heard a giggle erupt when Wesley finished whatever story he was telling.

"Ladies, ladies. Please, allow me to introduce one special gentleman. This handsome devil here is Adrian", Brent announced proudly as the girl closest to us lifted her chocolate eyes to glance at me.

I recognized her as Brent's sister. She was dressed like a nurse, a nurse in a very short skirt and a rather revealing tiny blouse. She smiled at me before she stood up and offered: "Take my place Sugar, I'm going inside."

"I'm coming with", Lars exclaimed, almost knocking me over in an attempt to follow her in.

"Hey, that's my sister, hands off!", Brent yelled after them as I took a few more steps and glanced at the other girls.

The one that giggled when I arrived was dressed in a tight leather outfit, with a pair of cat ears sticking out of her long blond hair. She was as close to sitting in Wesley's lap as possible. She swayed back and forth, clutching her pinkish drink tight with her fingers which ended in claw like black nails. Brent coughed, nugging his head towards her as he announced: "Introductions. This lovely kitty cat is Bethany."

She giggled again before Brent moved on to the redhead with bright eyes next to Bethany. She wore short blue shorts and a tight blue jacket along with a matching hat. I noticed the handcuffs hanging from her belt just as Brent continued with: "Here we have Officer Caroline."

"Hey", she greeted, waving at me as the last girl stood up and extended her hand to me.

Her curly, dark brown hair contrasted her outfit a lot - a fluffy, feathery, white dress with matching wings and a halo on top of her head. Like her friends she wore high heels that almost made her taller than me and was gorgeous enough to make my head spin. Also, just like her friends, the very way her eyes raked over me made me feel like she could eat me for breakfast. They were all way out of our league. Guess now I knew my nervousness wasn't there for no reason.

"I'm Jen", she said as I took her hand and flipped it over.

"An Angel", I responded, placing a kiss on her hand and smiling up at her, hoping my lack of confidence wasn't showing, "I'm Adrian. A demon, if you will."

"Well, aren't we a fitting pair?", she chuckled before pulling me to sit down.

Wesley handed me a glass and I didn't even question what was in it before I downed the content. He kept handing me more and more, until I was fairly tipsy and thanking the universe that everyone in my company started drinking way before me so they didn't notice just how fuzzy I'd become.

At some point, Caroline dug through her purse and produced a box of cigarettes. She took three out, lighting them up before handing one to both Bethany and Jen. I watched Jen pucker her lips slightly as she touched the cigarette to them before taking her hand away and blowing the smoke out. She glanced at me and smiled before she extended her hand and offered me the cigarette.

"I don't smoke", I mumbled out, but it looked like she wasn't taking no for an answer.

"This is as good time as any to try it. Let's teach you how it's done."

She nudged me to press the cigarette up against my lips, parting them slightly so that I could tuck the bud in between. I pulled on it like she told me, feeling the smoke fill my mouth and then escape before I could do anything else since I began coughing like a maniac. They all burst into laughter and I tried to stop myself from blushing.

"Take it easy honey. It takes time to get used to it", Bethany giggled as she gave her cigarette to Wesley.

I tried giving mine back to Jen, but she shifted, throwing her legs into my lap and giggled: "Go ahead. Give it another try."

I felt my head spin even more than it already did as more smoke filled my lungs. I coughed again a few times, but as I reached the end I got a hang of it. By the time I was putting the cigarette out Wesley and Bethany disappeared while Lars, who came back at some point, and Brent were all over Caroline.

"I need to use the ladies room", Jen announced giving Caroline a strange look, like a sign only the two of them understood.

Soon enough Caroline was on her feet, but not before she added: "Be right back boys!"

Jen leaned in, placing a kiss on my cheek, extremely close to my lips and whispered: "Don't go anywhere my charming demon."

Lars at least had the decency to wait until their heels clicked against the floor inside before he whistled and hollered: "Damn Ivashkov, you are going places tonight."

I smiled a small smile before I took a sip of my drink, a faint excuse not to say anything since I really didn't know how to respond. We were guys, we didn't talk about touchy-feely crap, which was why I couldn't really tell them I was scared shitless. I was usually great with girls, but those girls were just as young and inexperienced as I was and despite what my friends thought, I didn't get very far with them. As a matter of fact, I barely got anywhere with them. A bit of making out, kissing and grabbing, but that was pretty much it. Jen, on the other hand, wasn't a little girl and I was pretty sure that if anything happened, I was going to make a fool of myself with her.

Brent leaned over, pulling a condom out of his pocket and handing it to me, while Lars took out the key from our room and threw it my way, exclaiming: "Knock yourself out Ivashkov. With a bit of luck, I'll be spending the rest of the night with Caroline anyway."

"The hell you will", Brent argued since he too had his eyes on that prize.

As the girls came back, I pushed the contents of my hand into my pocket hastily before shifting in my seat. Caroline took her place while Jen stayed next to the door eyeing me with a smile. She bit her lower lip and batted her lashes before announcing: "It's getting really cold out here. You want to walk me to my room so that I can get my jacket?"

"Sure", I drawled, trying to act casual as if her request didn't mean what I think it meant.

"You are such a sweetheart", she chuckled, taking my hand and pulling me up.

We stumbled through the crowd for a few moments before walking out into the hallway. I headed in the direction of the girls dorms before she used her hold on my arm to pull me back.

"Which way is your room?"

"That way", I mumbled, pointing the opposite way.

Without a word she tugged me towards my room and hugged my arm when I managed to catch up. She looked up at me and whispered: "Do you have any idea how cute you are?"

I had no idea how to answer to that so I blurted out: "Not cuter than you."

She giggled as we came to a stop, nudging me backwards until my back hit the wall and leaning against me. She was a breath away from my lips when she whispered: "You know, I thought tonight was going to be boring, hanging out with boys who don't know jack about women and all, but _you_... you made it fun."

"I did?", I asked trying to stop my voice from shaking.

"You did", she confirmed, her hands slipping under my shirt and wandering over my chest, "Tell me something, and I want you to be completely honest, cause I don't like liars."

"Okay."

"Are you a virgin?"

I couldn't produce a single sound and I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest so I just nodded, trying to look everywhere but at her. She grabbed my chin and pulled my head down, placing a little peck on my lips while she softly laughed: "Nothing to be ashamed of. I actually think that's adorable. Would you like to change that though?"

"Um, yeah", I mumbled as she took a step back and produced something out of her purse.

It took me a minute to realize what it was. She lifted the shiny cuffs Caroline had tucked under her belt and dangled them in front of my face while she announced: "I borrowed them from Caroline. She won't mind if they are used for a good purpose."

I nodded completely at a loss. _Good God, she was definitely going to eat me alive_. My panicked expression only made her laugh even more, but it wasn't the kind of laugh that would make me think that she was making fun of me, but more like an amused one.

"Come on pretty boy", she purred, plucking the keys from my room out of my pocket, "Let's go teach you a few more things."

 **Age 20, College**

Halloween was officially one of my favorite holidays. And why shouldn't it be? Girls, booze and awesome parties. It was that time of the year when all people wanted to do was to jump out of their skin for at least that one night and take a walk on the wild side. And you shouldn't even get me started on the slutty outfits. Okay, yeah, looking back at my last couple of Halloweens, I had a hard time recalling much, but I was fairly certain I had plenty of fun. And maybe waking up the morning after with a killer headache and a girl whose name I couldn't remember was not exactly the height of my year, but hey… those were just minor details.

This was my first all-human Halloween and, I had to admit, I wasn't at all disappointed. I'd usually stick with other Moroi from my campus, but tonight I decided to take a trip to one of the popular fraternities and see what would come of it. Besides, I kind of needed a break from routine. Lately, I'd been feeling... well, lets just say I wasn't my usual self. It was safe to say I was, if nothing, extremely moody so freshening up things couldn't hurt.

It was a great call. An hour into the party I was already surrounded by hot chicks and buzzed enough to have a big fat smile on my face the whole time. One girl in particular captured my attention. She reminded me of a girl I'd met at a party in Alder. Brittany? Betty? Either way, thinking back to that night reminded me of a another, particularly seductive senior. Needless to say, her costume would have been far more fitting as a saucy devil than an angel. Now those were the good times.

I approached the, let's say _Bella_ lookalike as she tried to give me a seductive look, but winded up making an awkward expression since she was obviously pretty tipsy already. That somehow made her seem even cuter though so I took a seat next to her on the improvised bar. Flirting came a bit forced to me lately too. It was like I didn't actually have the will to make an effort for anything, but I'd convinced myself that tonight was going to be a good night so I tried to stick to my usual ways and started off with something spicy: "Any chance you are letting those claws out tonight? I'd love to see them at work."

"Well if you stick around you might find out", she slurred, patting my thigh.

I gave her a wink as I lit up a cigarette before slowly blowing a cloud of smoke right above our heads. She scanned me up and down, frowning upon my evident lack of a costume before she added: "So what are you dressed as?"

I leaned over, looking her straight in the eyes as I spread my lips into a grin, hissing at her when my fangs became visible. She screamed before giggling and staring up at me in awe.

"Shit, those are really good. My friend tried buying them in the local shop, but they said they were all out. When did you get them?", she questioned as she pulled her head to the side studying my fangs carefully.

"At birth", I shot back, smiling at the joke or rather the truth, only obvious to me.

"What?", she shouted since she clearly didn't hear me over the music.

"A long time ago", I chuckled before I rose my glass to hers and clunked them together.

We drank a few rounds, enough to make things pretty hazy before I felt a hand on my shoulder. I glanced around stopping mid-sentence as I looked up and registered a familiar pair of eyes staring at me accompanied by a wide grin.

"Wesley?", I asked, completely baffled.

"Well damn Ivashkov, since when do you forget to call your friends to an awesome party like this one?"

Lars and Brent popped their heads from behind him waving at me. I was still too stunned to try to speak when Wesley leaned over and glanced at the catwoman exclaiming: "Aren't you going to introduce us to your lovely friend?"

She giggled, clearly smitten by him, as I opened my mouth only to realize I didn't even ask for her name. Luckily, she jumped up from her seat... well, jumped was an overstatement, more like tumbled from the stool and extended her hand, mumbling: "I'm Sara."

"Hello beautiful Sara", Wesley said, kissing her hand which only caused more giggles, "I'm Wesley. Would you mind if we joined you?"

"Not at all", she managed to say as she worryingly swayed on her feet.

 _I'd mind,_ I thought. It wasn't because I was _that_ interested in this girl, but suddenly I really wished my old crew hadn't found me. I needed a break from them too, or at least I thought I did. I didn't say anything though since I didn't want to be an ass. Lars and Brent approached me, tapping my shoulder as a hello before they circled us. I looked at Lars and tried to sound as casual as possible when I asked: "How did you guys know where I was?"

"Word gets around", he mysteriously responded, winking at me before he transferred his focus to Sara.

In that moment a girl wiggled in-between them so that she could reach Sara, tugging another, clearly wasted friend after her. I noticed straight away that she looked mighty hot, curved in all the right places and dressed in a slightly provocative, but more than proper little red riding hood costume. She was the least underdressed girl I'd seen all night, which made her even more attractive as if her mesmerizing, dark eyes and full red lips weren't inviting enough.

"Can we please go now?", she pleaded, looking at Sara as her drunk friend almost fell over Lars.

Sara ignored her though as she was too busy eye-fucking Wesley. I heard Lars say something to the third girl and she ripped out of the grasp of her friend and flung herself at him. Red riding hood seemed lost, probably since she was trying to decide whether she should attempt to "save" her friend or not. She shook Sara's arm and tried again: "Sara, can we go before Christina does something stupid?"

"Don't worry", Brent supplied winking at her, "We can watch out for her."

She gave him a look that screamed _yeah right_ , tossing her dark curly hair back and wrinkling her perky nose as he added: "No wolves around here."

"I want to stay", Sara cried out in a whiny voice, "You can go if you want."

I felt bad for the girl since I understood how she felt perfectly. I too had this nagging desire to get out of here. I stood up and shifted so I could reach for Christina, pulling her towards my chair and making her sit down. I handed her what I hoped was a glass of water which earned me an appreciative look from her. It was the least I could do to try to help somehow.

"Maybe you should wait until she feels better enough to walk on her own", I offered turning to her friend, "I'm Adrian by the way."

"Laura", red riding hood said, still glancing towards the door like she was trying to determine whether she should really stay or not.

"Relax Laura", Lars mumbled, fixing his eyes on hers, "We are the good guys."

As she looked at him I could see the tension flowing out of her like on command. _It was on command_. _He was compelling her_. I frowned and signaled him to stop, but he just smiled at me before he added: "How about we go somewhere else to get some fresh air?"

I knew what he was trying to accomplish and I knew why they were really here when we found ourselves in one of the empty rooms. Wesley suddenly produced a bottle of questionable looking liquor that he only poured for the girls. I wondered if I should try to stop them when the girls were drunk enough or drugged enough not to notice the fact that there was someone fangs deep into their throats. But I stayed quiet, like I always did.

 _Who was I to give them lessons?_ It wasn't like dabbling was something I myself hadn't done. Though it was just once and I had no hand in the intoxication of the girl, still I did it. I looked at Laura's dazzled expression and for a second she actually reminded me of that girl. I couldn't even remember her name now, but suddenly, I felt sick just thinking of it and seeing what was happening in front of me.

I quickly got up and raced out without my friends even noticing it. Actually, I stood outside for a while before Lars showed up and asked me if I was good. I nodded and lit up a cigarette without a word, waiting for him to leave me alone. He did and that was when my mind began racing, dark thoughts filling it up in a flash.

I guess my night didn't really turn out as great as I thought it would. I felt that same wave of qualm wash over me again. I felt like I was drowning all the time lately. And just like that, now out of all moments, the dam broke. _Screw Halloween, screw college, screw it all._

 **Age 25, Maine**

Five years ago on this day I quit college and gave up on my education. In all fairness though, I was pretty much doing everything but getting educated. Still, looking back at it I guess you could say it was a dark time for me. I hated my parents, my friends and my life in that moment. It was also the first time I began feeling the full blown side effects of the Spirit. It was safe to say I was a mess.

Today, I was a full time Pre-K art teacher, married to the most amazing woman in the world and a father. Though Declan wasn't biologically my son, it sure as hell felt like he was. He was the light of my life, aside from Sydney. And life was good. No, life was amazing.

"Adrian, what the hell is that?", Sydney asked as I fought to get a huge box I was carrying into our living room.

"A surprise", I huffed, managing to finally, beyond all reason, make it pass through the frame.

She followed me in, scanning me and the box suspiciously as I grinned at her and proceeded to rip the top open to pull out what was hidden within. As the protective wraps fell back into the box, I watched Sydney's eyes widen while I exclaimed: "It's a mini car."

"I can see that", she carefully mumbled, probably questioning my sanity again while at it, "Why did you by a mini-, wait is that a Porsche?"

"Yes, it is and it's not just any Porsche. It's a 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, well a toy version of it."

"James Dean's car?", Sydney asked baffled, her eyebrow shooting up.

"Yep, Little Bastard."

"Why did you by a toy version of Little Bastard?"

"For Declan. He is dressing as James Dean this Halloween."

"You do remember that James Dean died at the age of twenty-four driving his car?"

"Details", I huffed, waving at her dismissively, "Besides this ain't the real one."

As if on cue, Declan thumped into the room eyes full of wonder. I waited for him to run up to me before I grabbed him and picked him up, hearing him giggle. He still looked so tiny despite the fact that he was three already. He hugged me tightly while he mumbled into my shoulder: "I missed you daddy."

I was as close to screaming as possible. _Daddy. Dad_. _You here that world?_ That was what he called me. I swallowed down tears of joy that seemed to be making their appearance every time Declan said or did anything, before I responded: "I missed you too buddy."

Eddie came into the room and the moment my eyes fell on him I knew he had been playing with Declan. He did that a lot. The kid loved him and he... well, he was ready to take a bullet for Declan at any given moment. What made their goofing around so obvious was the fact that there was a smear of blue paint on Eddie's cheek and more of some other color on his hands. Declan was putting his artistic inclinations to a test lately. That made me extra proud.

Eddie waved at me before he stopped in his tracks and glanced at the toy car placed on the floor in the middle of the room, carefully asking: "What's that?"

"You don't want to know", Sydney replied with a sigh before she added to Declan, "Wash up mi amor, dinner is ready."

I put him down and he gave Sydney one of his adorable little smiles before he ran off to the bathroom. Eddie followed him lifting his hands to point out he too needed to wash up. I pushed the toy into the corner before I joined Sydney who was setting up the table. One plate less. Mom was away on a vacation. I didn't know whether she decided to go because needed some rest from all of us or because she wanted to give us some alone time. We were never alone though. Between Declan and Eddie, as our collective guardian, I wondered why we hadn't all started sleeping in the same bed already. I didn't mind the lack of loneliness though. I loved our wacky family and being close to it.

"After dinner we can take Declan trick-or-treating", I suggested as I folded the napkins and placed them next to the plates, "He is old enough to go now."

"Sure", Sydney agreed, giving me a small smile, "I believe that's something that might be fun for him."

"It'll be fun for us too. I mean, come on, when was the last time you went trick-or-treating?"

"Hmm, never", she mumbled, making me almost trip over my own damn feet as I rounded the table and came to a stop next to her.

"Wait, what? You never went trick-or-treating?"

"I think it's safe to say you and I had completely different upbringings", she chuckled at my shocked face.

"No costumes? No pumpkins? No apple bobbing?"

"None", she now laughed as she took my hand, "Sorry to burst your bubble."

"But apple bobbing is so hot. You know when girls kneel down to get the apples and their skirts ride up and-."

"Okay", she cut in, shaking her head like she was trying to "unhear" what I'd just said, "You know, apple bobbing was originally a part of divination rituals-."

"Okay", now I was the one to interrupt, "Don't ruin it for me."

She grinned before she prompted herself up on her tiptoes and gave me a light kiss. Declan and Eddie rejoined us so she quickly took a step back and finished up what we were doing.

After dinner we dressed up, or rather Declan and I dressed up and Sydney, despite my pleading, put on regular clothes while Eddie opted for his guardian attire. We walked around the neighborhood until Declan had more candy than any of us could carry.

I took it upon myself to get him ready for bed and tuck him in once we got back. I wished Eddie good night too before I finally made my way to Sydney's and mine room. The light in the bathroom was on and the door slightly opened when I entered the bedroom. I heard the water running so I figured Sydney was getting ready for bed. I started stripping off my improvised firefighter costume and when I reached the pants the door swung open. I glanced up out of a habit and I could literally feel my heart stopping in my chest.

Sydney stood by the door dressed in the most amazing dress I'd ever seen on her. It was red, a darker color of red than the one she wore on the Halloween a while ago, a deep, rich red. It had a strap going around her neck and a neckline that was the lowest she had ever worn. It was floor length and hugging her body in all the right places while the edge looked to me like a flame burning from the ground. There was a very high cut on the side of her leg, high enough to potentially show her underwear if she moved in the right way. She looked glorious.

"Is that what I think it is?", I stammered out barely finding the words.

"A piece of heaven or, well, that other place", she joked, slowly walking towards me as the dress danced around her body.

"How? When? Why?"

"You are not the only one with surprises up their sleeves. It's not Halloween unless you dress up right?", she asked, referring to my earlier words, "It's not like the old Halloween one, but I think it's close enough."

"It's better", I breathed out, feeling my head spin as she stopped a few feet away from me.

"I thought you might appreciate it."

"Oh, I appreciate it alright", I mumbled scanning her up and down again before I took those few steps that closed the distance between us, "What did I do to deserve this?"

"Let's just say you've been the best husband a woman could wish for and I love you more than I can put to words."

"That's just because I got lucky enough to have the best woman on the planet as my wife, the woman I love more than I thought was possible", I responded as I gently placed my hand on the small of her back and pulled her towards me.

She let her head fall back slightly, putting herself in a perfect position for me to kiss her and melted against me, making my breath hitch as I whispered: "I hope there is matching underwear underneath that."

She fixed my eyes with something I was surprised to call a mischievous look on her face. She bit her lower lip and whispered back: "Actually, there isn't anything underneath at all."

I swallowed loudly, feeling that same flame start up in my chest, the one I always felt with her and the one I believed I'd never stop feeling. She would never cease to amaze me or take my breath away. She was truly perfect.

"I love you so much", I mumbled, leaning my forehead against hers.

"Because I'm underwearless?", she chuckled, but I saw her eyes sparkle.

"Because I'm a dreamer and you are a dream come true", I answered before I glued my lips to hers.


End file.
